Conceived by Stephen Helper & Jack Viertel, Smokey Joe’s Café doesn’t mess around with plot contrivance or try to squeeze the songs into a theme. It’s just the songs, folks, no dialog, no patter. And really, the songs speak for themselves. Leiber & Stoller wrote over 70 chart hits and were recorded by such artists as Elvis Presley, The Drifters, The Coasters, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, B.B. King, James Brown, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Luther Vandross, John Lennon, Aretha Franklin, and over a thousand others. They were inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and they have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

This time around Smokey Joe’s Café is directed and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse, who does a stunning job of choreographing the men in their group numbers. “Along Came Jones,” “Poison Ivy,” and “Love Potion #9” were masterpieces of great choreography combined with great comic timing. Kyle Taylor Parker stood out in these comedic numbers as a triple threat. Not only does he have a great singing voice and killer dancing chops, but he’s a spot-on comedian who can communicate a character with the tilt of his head or an inflection of his voice. He knocked it out of the park in “Along Came Jones” as the damsel in distress Sweet Sue.

But it wasn’t only the comic numbers that were terrific. Jelani Remy absolutely killed it with Bergasse’s exciting and clever choreography in “Jailhouse Rock.” It’s such an iconic song and so closely associated with Elvis Presley that it’s tricky to do. Bergasse’s choreography was incredibly athletic and powerful and had Remy showing off his insane skills with panache and flair, while tipping their hats to The King.

The women too were incredible and my only bone to pick is that they weren’t used as a group more, as the men were. I kept waiting for the women to do a number together and when it finally came in the form of “I’m A Woman,” I wasn’t disappointed. Which is not to say that they didn’t have their own numbers. Dionne D. Figgins doing “Don Juan” had the audience eating out of her hand. Nicole Vanessa Ortiz’s “Hound Dog” made it clear that the song was meant to be sung by a woman. Sorry, Elvis. And Alysha Umphress’ voice was a revelation every time she opened her mouth to sing. From the bluesy, sultry “Trouble” to the wistful “Pearl’s A Singer,” I couldn’t wait for her to sing again. And while Emma Degerstedt is a fine singer, I will never forget her dancing in “Teach Me How To Shimmy.” That woman shimmied vigorously for over two minutes straight. Heck, I was winded when she was done.

Smokey Joe’s Café is a hand-clapping, finger-snapping, foot-stomping, good time at the theater. And if that’s not enough – at Stage 42 there’s actually leg room in the seats and you won’t have to take out a second mortgage to buy a ticket. You heard it here first folks.

Smokey Joe’s Café: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller Words and Music by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller; Directed and Choreographed by Joshua Bergasse; Music Supervisor and New Arrangements by Sonny Paladino.

Review

85%

Smokey Joe’s Café: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller

About The Author

Donna Herman is a native New Yorker and a self-confessed theater addict. It all started in her childhood, which was spent on movie and television sets and in dark empty theaters while her mother, an actress, and her father, a make-up artist and playwright/screenwriter, worked. She knew she wanted to be an actress at 4 years old while on location with her father who was working on the movie “West Side Story.” They were filming the “Officer Krupke” number on the street and Donna was inside the police barricades being helpful and pressing the lever on the coffee urn for the crew. Meanwhile, the kids from the neighborhood were pressed against the sawhorses looking in. She knew then she always wanted to be on the inside. But it wasn’t until her 8th birthday when she saw her first Broadway show, “My Fair Lady,” that she fell prey to her addiction.
Donna went on to act throughout her school career and attended Boston University’s School of Fine Arts Theater Program where she studied Acting and Directing. After graduation, she returned to NYC and began the life of a struggling actress. She was fortunate enough to originate the role of Chang in John Jesurun’s downtown cult serial classic play “Chang In A Void Moon” which performed a new episode at The Pyramid Club on Avenue A every Monday night for almost a year in the 80’s. Many downtown notables were in the cast including Steve Buscemi, Black-Eyed Susan, David Cale, Greg Mehrten, and Anna Kohler.
While pursuing acting, Donna made money by working in recording studios and eventually got hired full time to manage Spyro Gyra’s new recording studio when Julian Lennon was recording his first album there. From there she became the Production Coordinator on the film of his concert tour for his production company. This led her to a job with the award winning audio post production facility where she stayed for 12 years and was the Controller. From there she went to Charlex, Inc. an award winning special effects and design company for the advertising industry, where she was the CFO and stayed for 17 years.
But her love for the theater has never waned and living in New York, she has always been able to indulge it. She has even been called to revise her role as Chang occasionally over the years, the latest for episodes 59 to 61 in 2015. She is now looking to get back to a more creative life and reviewing theater and designing jewelry.